[AskMaxim]

Preface:
Hello!
Q. What is a good place for an energy-savvy family?
A. Warm, sunny, safe and easily affordable. + Internet.
Peakoil fellows, let me share my endless vacation experience with you.

(To avoid any blame of promoting a business or country, I will not mention the country name here, just note that it is in continental Europe. However, should someone become genually interested, I won't keep it secret.
Now, I don't know if there are other similar or better places, just sharing personal experience. If you know other places or have your experience - please share!)

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Here you go:
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My family (my wife, me and boys 5 and 2) moved to (country) last December. It is now 8 months into our new fantastic life, we'd invite any open-minded person to retire in (country) immediately.

Mildest climate, friendly people, good service, overall safety, warm sea and breathtaking mountains all come in one cocktail in (country), and at a great discount.

Not that we retired in the sad sense of this word - rather, we are actively engaged in providing language translation services to world's prominent companies. But this is a 100% remote (home-based) business for us. I can (if asked) speak more about translation and other home-based businesses, but let me return to the location.

There are many 'paradise' locations in the world, but the key here is 'discount'. We quickly learned that when it comes to residing long-term rather than visiting a guarded hotel, there are hardly any tropical destinations where a westerner would be truly welcomed by local strangers. N.B. There are some ratings/accounts that misrepresent 'intrinsic safety' (my term) of certain countries. (I'd like to discuss those separately if there is interest.)

But a guarded citadel of a hotel or an expat campus would hardly come at a discount. Now imagine renting a large two-bedroom floor in a residential 2-family house for USD 400, or buying a home with a backyard for USD 80K in a coastal area, with apparently no safety concerns. Add to this the cocktail of natural wonders described above. Escape snowy winters (or escape to a snowy slope in a 2-hour drive).

Now 8 months into our residing in (country), we are still yahooing (yippeeing!) every other day when driving by the sea or jumping therein. Too good to be true come true!

[Keith_McClary]

Have the Americans bombed the neighborhood recently?

[SeaGypsy]

None of continental Europe is in the tropics or sub tropics, temperate is as close as Europe gets to tropical.
No 'apparent' safety concerns? Warm sea.... Did you move to the Baltic from Scandanavia?

[pup55]

It's true that if you have a little bit of money, right now might be an interesting time to do something like that....

I have checked into Spain, myself. They must have had a similar overbuilding situation there that they did in Florida but the apparent difference is that they seem to be allowing the prices to fall, and so you can rent a condo pretty close to the beach south of Valencia for 400 Euros/month.... It would be pretty easy to eat the local good food, buy a bike to go between the house and the beach, and sort of blend into the population if you were inclined.....and you could probably have them mail you your unemployment check for 99 weeks....

In light of the fact that it's all funny money anyway, there is some merit to getting yourself to some pleasant, peaceful corner of the world and waiting out the chaos....

[AskMaxim]

Have the Americans bombed the neighborhood recently?

Montenegro was marginally affected in 1999.
It is now welcoming US troops so they won't do that again, hopefully.

By the way, speaking of gas consumption:
at EUR 1.30 per liter I never spent as little as now. The key is the convenience of compact towns - really, the size of a big shopping mall in USA.
Driving distances are short. In fact, those are in electric car's range.
And solar energy is abundant here.

[Ibon]

Peakoil fellows, let me share my endless vacation experience with you.

Now 8 months into our residing in (country), we are still yahooing (yippeeing!) every other day when driving by the sea or jumping therein. Too good to be true come true!

These two comments point out that you are still seeing your new experience through rose tinted glasses. Let's here back from you in a few years.

But go ahead, not need to be candid or fear that you are trying to promote something on this site. Tell us of your Shngrila.

[AskMaxim]

These two comments point out that you are still seeing your new experience through rose tinted glasses. Let's here back from you in a few years.

But go ahead, not need to be candid or fear that you are trying to promote something on this site. Tell us of your Shngrila.

In fact, I put one caution word 'apparently' in the rosy description above.
And I would appreciate hearing about any potential stumbling blocks from someone who might know. This is one reason why I posted here.